Jerónimo Martins proposes to give 86.7 million in extraordinary dividends
The proposal foresees the payment of 0.138 euros per share, for a total of more than 87.6 million euros.
Jerónimo Martins wants to return dividends to shareholders. The Board of Directors has called an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting to be held on 26 November, at which the use of free reserves will be voted on. The proposal foresees the payment of 0.138 euros per share for a total of more than 87.6 million euros.
“The Board of Directors of Jerónimo Martins, SGPS, S.A. proposes that the Shareholders resolve on the partial distribution of free reserves amounting to 86,723,922.36 euro, corresponding to the gross amount of 0.138 euro per share, to be distributed to shareholders proportionally to their holdings, excluding own shares in its portfolio,” reads the company’s statement to the market.
The retailer led by Pedro Soares dos Santos points out six reasons for deciding now to distribute reserves that came from old results, after having cut the annual payment due to the pandemic. The first is exactly to have, at the beginning of May, revised the proposal, passing the dividend payment ratio to 30% of the consolidated net earnings.
“On that occasion, the Board of Directors informed the market that, depending on the evolution of the situation, it could still consider proposing the distribution from the Company’s free reserves, until the end of the year, of the remaining amount to make up the payout of 50% of consolidated net earnings, in line with the dividend policy of Jerónimo Martins,” the Portuguese company recalls.
The document points out the company’s “robust performance”, which between January and September, profited 17.8% less, compared to the same period of 2019, to 219 million euros, but whose sales even rose 3.9%. Jerónimo Martins also stresses that “it maintains financial flexibility to support growth projects and take advantage of non-organic expansion opportunities that may arise in the short term,” as well as “the existence of free reserves in an amount higher than the legally and statutory minimum required.”
After the sharp drop in dividends for 2019, paid since the beginning of the year, Jerónimo Martins is the second PSI-20 company to announce that it will distribute reserves to shareholders.
